A Harare magistrate who last year fined a Venezuelan $700
for carrying 5kg cocaine worth US$469 000 in her luggage as she flew into
Harare from Brazil, has been arrested for criminal abuse of office as
graft-busters move up the ladder into the courts.
Mpofu
In a declaratory ruling on appeal, the High Court thought
five years jail was the appropriate sentence although the Venezuelan had
already been deported by that time, there being no additional grounds to hold
her.
But that recent ruling raised suspicions over why the
magistrate was so lenient. Normally, even possession of a few grammes of
cocaine attracts a jail term and the judge noted there was no legal precedent
for sentencing someone with such a huge quantity of dangerous drugs.
Magistrate Morgan Nemadire tried Venezuelan Delcy Deymar
Rodriguez Guererro who had been arrested for possessing 5kg cocaine and with
the overwhelming evidence convicted her on the alternative more minor charge,
rather than the main more serious charge, before imposing a sentence of a small
fine.
Nemadire’s arrest follows investigations by the Special
Anti-Corruption Unit (Sacu) with the assistance of the police.
It also comes at a time when the cogs of the justice
delivery are under scrutiny after a senior prosecutor, Tapiwa Kasema, last week
consented to the granting of bail to four members of a gang suspected to be the
biggest robbers in Zimbabwean history.
That consent prompted police to arrest him. Yesterday, the
head of Sacu Mr Tabani Mpofu confirmed the arrest of the magistrate but could
not divulge more details concerning the case.
Nemadire is expected to appear in court soon.
Aggrieved by the sentencing leniency for Guererro, the
Prosecutor-General’s Office then appealed to the High Court against both the
conviction on the minor charge rather than the main chare and against the
sentence, saying it was too lenient even for the lesser charge.
Guerrro, a native of Venezuela, who was deported to her
home country, should have served five years in prison for possession of cocaine
valued at $469 000 after the High Court quashed a lower court’s sentence in a
judgment delivered recently and made the conviction on the main charge.
Justice Joseph Musakwa observed that the trial court was
too lenient with Guererro and ruled that a declarator on the appropriate
sentence was called for even though she had been deported.
“In that respect, a sentence of five years’ imprisonment
should have been imposed,” said Justice Musakwa.
“The verdict of the lower court is set aside and
substituted with . .. guilty of the main charge and not guilty of the
alternative charge; the sentence is set aside and substituted with the
following . . . five years’ imprisonment.”
Justice Musakwa bemoaned a dearth of comparative legal
authorities on cocaine-related matters from the country’s jurisdiction. He said
the few cases available pale into insignificance when compared with the matter
involving the Venezuelan national.
Usually, people found in possession of small quantities of
cocaine ranging from 1,7 grammes to 10 grammes are sent to jail without the
option of a fine. The trial court was lenient with Guererro on the grounds that
it was expensive to keep foreigners in local prisons, adding that she had
complained of ill-health. This was despite the fact that the prosecution in the
trial court had submitted that a fine would trivialise the gravity of the
offence and would be a mockery to the justice delivery system.
The trial court heard that on October 18, 2018, police on
duty at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport received a tip-off that
Guererro was travelling to Harare from Brazil and was suspected to be carrying
dangerous drugs.
When Guererro disembarked from her flight, she proceeded to
the clearance counter in the arrivals hall to clear her passport. She was
arrested as she was getting her passport stamped. Herald
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